


Taxes

by fluffynexu



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-05-01 00:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5185694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffynexu/pseuds/fluffynexu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I may be the Emperor’s Wrath, but I am still a citizen of the Empire. As such, I am obligated like everyone else to pay my taxes.”</p>
<p>No one is exempt from Imperial taxes… except…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taxes

**Author's Note:**

> My very first attempt to write a fic since the yonder years of high school.  
> Akrona is a Sith Pureblood and the nicest Sith ever. Don't ask how she got appointed to be the Wrath. She doesn't know either.  
> Special thanks to Spaceyquill (on tumblr) for being my beta!

Quinn was up early and turned off his alarm, which still had a few minutes before it would go off. He got out of bed promptly not caring to see if he disturbed the Sith beside him since he knew how heavy of a sleeper she was. He quickly went on to start his morning routine, which was punctual and time efficient to a T. As soon as he donned his sharp officer’s uniform, he looked back and smiled softly at Akrona’s still sleeping figure before leaving the room. Quinn set out to grab a breakfast ration bar and a cup of caf from the galley before making it to his personal office. Usually he would spend his days going about his normal work, but today was different. It was a special day. Today was first official day of the Imperial Tax Season and Quinn could not wait to file away the crew’s tax forms.

He started off by looking over the numerous completed forms involving income, exemptions, compensations, donations, and many other things for him and Akrona. A few things have changed for him since last year and the alterations to which form and which correct answers to fill have all been taken care of. To say that he was prepared for this would’ve been a gross understatement. After a final run through he sent off their forms to the Imperial Tax Bureau from his computer.

Next was Jaesa, which was dealt with quickly before he moved onto filing away Broonmark’s. Moving on, he opened up Pierce’s files to look over them. Quinn started reading the first few lines and it seemed to be in order. As he read on he realized that Pierce had an extra digit added to the end of his payrate. While he read on, he pursed his lips and tapped a finger on the desk knowing that it was his wife was being improperly lenient with the crew again. He would be sure to put this topic on the agenda for their next conversation. For now, Pierce’s forms were saved away to wait further analysis.

That only left Vette’s. Quinn looked around his files and could not find it. He then went through any correspondence he had with the twi’lek and still could not find it. His search went on for several more minutes before his usual upright posture started to droop and his eye twitched slightly. He grabbed his comlink and decided to call Vette with no avail. Irritated that she didn’t answer his call he looked at the chrono and decided there was enough time to find the twi’lek and ask her in person.

 

 

 

By this time, with Pierce and Broonmark already on their way to their morning training, Quinn found the women in the galley, Vette and Jaesa engaged in casual conversation, while Akrona sat oblivious, meditating with a warm cup of tea in her hand, her head on the table.Quinn approached them, datapad in hand.

Jaesa was the first to notice and greeted warmly, “Good morning, Captain.”

“Jaesa.” Quinn nodded in acknowledgement.

“How is your morning?” Jaesa asked.

Quinn sighed, “It would’ve been better if someone,” he sharply turned to Vette, “knew how to answer a comlink.”

“Hey, Captain Tightwad, it’s early.” Vette took a long drink of her caf. “Not all of us are battle ready at 0600 sharp.”

“First, it is now 0830 Imperial Standard Time, and thus this time of morning can hardly be considered _early_ anymore.” Vette rolled her eyes and Quinn took a deep breath before continuing, “Second, you do not need to be ‘battle ready’, as you put it, to have some common decency in preparations and have your comlink on you at all time.”

Jaesa looked down and sighed quietly at the familiar dispute, she slowly stood, “I’ll leave you two for now.” She leaned into Akrona’s ear and whispered, “I’ll see you later, master,” before leaving the galley.

“What do you want, anyway?” Vette asked.

“I have come to inquire you regarding the whereabouts of your tax forms. You know as well as the rest of the crew that today my prescribed deadline to turn in the forms to me for evaluation before submission.”

Vette scoffed at him, “Really? Don’t you have, like, oh I don’t know, two months before the actual deadline?”

“That is beside the point,” Quinn snapped. “You know that I am always prepared in every aspect regarding my duties, which include the crew and anything relating to Imperial bureaucracy. Sending the forms off at the earliest convenience would give for a much longer time buffer should anything go wrong. I have completed everyone else’s this morning. So I ask you again. Where are **your** forms that I had explicitly asked for?”

The two stared at each other for a few moments before Vette sighed and responded, “Alright, Captain Stuffypants. Here’s the thing. I didn’t send you any forms because I didn’t fill any out.”

“You didn’t–” Quinn took a step back in astonishment before recomposing himself. “Might I ask why?”

“Sure. I don’t pay taxes.”

Quinn’s hold on his datapad started to wobble. “I beg your pardon. Do you mind running that by me again?”

Vette got up, crossed her arms, looked Quinn straight in his eye and declared, “I. Don’t. Pay. Taxes.”

“What do you mean you don’t pay taxes?!” he cried as he slammed the datapad on the table.

Before either of them could get another word in, Akrona slowly picked up her head from the growing commotion around her and dryly remarked, “I sense a great disturbance in the Force.” The Sith looked at her scene before her. Quinn’s face was turning into shades of red while Vette huffed as her lekku twitched. “Alright.” Akrona sat up and straightened herself, “What’s going on? Why are you two going at it this early in the morning?”

Quinn was the first to gain some sense of calm. He bowed slightly. “Apologies, my lord. I did not mean to disrupt you.”

She smiled gently at him. “It’s alright, Quinn.”

“It’s has been brought to my attention that Vette does not pay her fair share in taxes to the Empire.”

Before Akrona could respond Vette quickly interjected, “What the big deal anyway?”

“ _What’s the big deal?_ ” Quinn retorted. “I’ll have you know it is of utmost importance that every citizen pays his or her share of taxes for the Empire to function smoothly and properly. How else would we support the military, the infrastructure, healthcare for citizens, edu–”

“Wow, Captain Dreadful! Just when I thought you couldn’t get more boring, you prove me wrong by lecturing me about taxes. Taxes! Of all things!” She then turned to Akrona and asked, “Hey, you don’t have to pay taxes do you?”

Akrona sighed deeply, rubbing her temples. “I may be the Emperor’s Wrath, but I am still a citizen of the Empire. As such, I am obligated like everyone else to pay my taxes,” she answered and took a sip of her tea to ease her nerves.

“Ok. Sounds weird, you being one of the top Sith and all. But… _I_ don’t have to. Right?”

The Captain looked to his Sith wife with anticipation.

“No,” she answered. “ _You_ don’t.”

“What?!” Quinn cried, “I mean... What I mean to say is… I beg your pardon, my lord. But could you explain to me as why–?”

“Because,” Akrona calmly looked Quinn right in the eye and intoned, “She’s legally classified as a slave.”

His eyes widened with the slow realization. , “Which means…”

“Which means you actually pay taxes on me!” Vette announced.

Quinn rubbed the bridge of his nose as an ache sparked in the back of his head; he was sure this twi’lek would become the death of him. “Are you… are you saying that not only do you have Vette classified as a slave, but you put her value at a high enough level that we’re _paying_ taxes on her?”

Akrona looked down at her hands slowly toying with the cup, “Yes, dear.”

Vette inched away from the couple. “Well now that that’s all settled, I think I’ll be heading back to my–”

“You stay right where you are!” Quinn snapped at her. “I am not finished with this.”

“But I **really** don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Quite frankly, Quinn,” Akrona added, “I don’t feel like talking about this, either. I feel the matter is now resolved.”

“I understand, my lord. I merely wish to know why she’s still legally classified as a slave.”

Akrona sat back in her chair and thought for a moment, “Because she wants to be. In my defense, I did offer her freedom. Officially speaking. On the legal level. She simply declined.”

“It’s true.” Vette explained, “I asked her if she’d treat me any different, she said no. And I figured it was just easier to not deal with all of the Imperial bureaucracy on this issue.”

“Well, if that’s the case… My lord, I request that proper steps be taken into changing Vette’s status as a slave to a full-fledged citizen of the Empire.”

The two women looked at each other with mixed expressions. It was Vette who broke the silence, “Uh… no thanks?”

Quinn nearly spat back with a hint of venom in his words, “It is a request I made to our lord; _you_ have no say in the matter.”

“You can’t… but I’m just fine with how things are! Besides, I think I make a perfectly decent slave. Right, boss?” She grinned.

“ _A slave_?” Quinn scoffed and blinked at the twi’lek in astonishment. “You honestly think you’re a slave just because of a _technicality_? Some slave you are. You’re disrespectful, unprofessional, inconsiderate, obnoxiously opinionated, and you would talk down to our lord. Our lord of the Sith who is the Emperor’s Wrath, might I add.”

Akrona rubbed the sides of her temple again and groaned amidst the mounting tension in the room.

Vette was a shade darker and her hands were beginning to shake as she spoke. “Well, excuse me Captain! Complain and whine and chastise me all you want! But have you forgotten that I was there for ‘our lord’ before you? I’ve **always** been there for her! Which is a lot more than you can say.”

The Sith snapped back into attention at the last statement and watched as her husband immediately stormed out without another word. “Quinn-!” Akrona tensed up and turned to Vette, saying, “That was uncalled for.” She sharply rose out of her seat. “I’m going to go talk to him. I expect you to apologize when you have the chance.”

“But he-!”

“No excuses!” Akrona left the galley and followed Quinn back to his office.

 

 

 

She found him at his desk going through various reports. Akrona came up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Quinn,” she said quietly, “would you like to talk about it?”

He closed his eyes and sighed before looking back to her. “I apologize, my lord, for my actions earlier. You know I will forever carry the deep regret with me about-“

“I’ve already told you that it’s forgotten.”

“But Vette hasn’t. Which is surprising since she wasn’t even there. I thought Jaesa would-”

“Can we just move on? Yes, Jaesa may have told Vette. So now both of them know. Who cares? Let it go. Please.”

“Very well, my lord.” He took a deep breath. “But my request to make Vette a full-fledged, legal citizen within the Empire still stands.”

Akrona rolled her eyes, “Of course it does.” She repositioned herself behind him, placing both her hands upon his shoulders and began to rub them softly. “Does it really mean that much to you?”

“Honestly? Yes. It would mean a lot to me.”

“I thought as much,” she sighed, “Alright. You win, Captain. I’ll go talk to her.”

Quinn caught her hand as she was in the process of leaving, “One more thing, my lord.” Akrona turned back to him. “I have a question regarding the lieutenant’s salary.”

“What of it?”

“It seems that he’s being paid at a higher rate than a soldier of his rank. I was wondering if that was a mistake or intentional on your part.”

“No mistake. I decided to give him a raise after his success in taking the Bastion.”

“Ah.”

Akrona’s eyebrow ridge rose in question. “You disagree with my decision, Captain?”

“No. Not at all, my lord. I just expected to be involved in the discussion, and perhaps not give him quite that big of a raise.”

“I’m sorry dear,” Akrona sighed and pressed the side of her head. “I didn’t mean to make you upset, but I think Pierce’s salary is fine for now. Just file it.”

“I suppose.” He looked back up to her from his seat, “Is your head alright? Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“Truth be told, I thought it would get better.”

“May I ask what happened?”

She chuckled lightly, “Of course, dear. You know that you don’t have to ask permission for everything, you know.”

“Sorry, my-”

Her finger on his lips silenced him. “Or apologize!” She took her finger off and lightly laughed, “Goodness Quinn… But as I was saying, you know my mission yesterday?”

“To clear out a Republic outpost? Yes. As I recall, you and Pierce were quite successful.”

“Yes, well… of course they had to have some Jedi defending there and one of them didn’t particularly like the fact that I was killing all of the troopers. One minute, I’m cutting down a soldier, and the next, half a security droid bashes into the side of my head.”

“My lord!”

“Well, I killed him anyway.” She giggled to herself, “They always look so surprised when it happens.”

“Why wasn’t I informed?”

“I had a pack of ice.” She shrugged. “I thought it would help.”

“Did it?”

“Yes… Well… No. Not exactly, but it’ll be fine. Besides, I need to talk to Vette anyw-”

“My lord, I insist you let me treat your head wound.”

Akrona flung her hands up. “Oh, alright. If you must.”

 

 

 

The two walked to the med bay. Akrona sat down on the examination table and Quinn grabbed the scanners with the quickness of familiarity to begin his analysis. He pursed his lips as the scan completed and debated whether or not to lecture his wife. He quickly discarded that thought since it would not be likely to yield any different results for similar events in the future.

“My love, the preliminary scan reveals a mild closed fracture on the left side. The injury is above the temporal bone and slightly onto the parietal bone.”

“You’re annoyed, aren’t you?”

“I beg pardon?”

“I can sense that you’re annoyed at me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Alright,” Quinn began to gather the necessary drugs for the treatment, “I might be irritated at the fact that you never decided to disclose Vette’s legal status, especially if she’s technically our property.”

“That can’t be it,” she interjected.

“I wasn’t finished, love.” Quinn quickly retorted while he applying a small medpac, with a bit more force than needed. “Not only were we still paying for Vette, you felt that my opinion regarding the lieutenant’s pay rate was unneeded. Then I find out that you’ve been unwell due to a skull fracture when you know, as per protocol, you should report any and all injuries at the earliest opportunity. I suppose we can be thankful it’s just a _mild_ injury, but what if something more severe were to happen?”

Akrona conceded, “You’re right, Quinn, as usual. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, I suppose.” He sighed as he finished administering the treatment. “Do you feel any better?”

“Yes. The headache has _finally_ subsided. Thank you.”

The two took a quiet moment to enjoy each other’s presence before Akrona hopped off the examination table.

She began to walk out, saying, “I suppose I should go talk to Vette. Let her know she’ll be moving up in Imperial society, hmm?”

“Yes, and I shall gather all the necessary documents.”

Akrona groaned, “Great…” before leaving the medbay completely to find the twi’lek.

 

 

 

Vette was relaxing in the lounge with the rest of the crew. These quieter days allowed for more free time, so the crew was reclined on the couch enjoying the relative serenity while watching a holofilm. Broonmark sat on the floor, allowing Vette on the couch behind him to brush through his fur. Jaesa was only half paying attention as she read from a datapad in her lap. Pierce looked utterly bored with the choice of film, but sat quietly with the rest of his crewmates.

It was such a rare, carefree moment for her crew that Akrona’s gut twisted at the thought of disturbing their peace. But it was either them or her husband. “Pierce. Jaesa. Could you two go and get the ship ready for travel?”

Pierce was up before she finished giving out the order. “Sure thing, m’lord. Where are we headed?”

“Dromund Kaas, I’m afraid.”

“Why?” Vette asked, still brushing out Broonmark’s fur.

“Because,” Akrona sighed, “Quinn and I will be officially promoting you to the status of legal citizen of the Empire… I’m sorry.”

Vette nearly jumped up, “What?! No! Why?!”

“Because-”

“Wait, hang on. What do you mean make the girl a citizen? What is she now?” Pierce asked.

“Yes, I’m rather curious as well, master.” Jaesa added.

Akrona put her hands on her hips, looking down and drawing a deep breath. “Vette is legally classified as a slave. So then my oh-so-definitely-not-obsessive husband found out and has asked to… set the records straight. He was also very displeased that we’re paying taxes on her. So, Pierce, Jaesa. Go and get the ship’s navicomputer ready. We need to leave before I have Quinn lecturing me again. And I _really_ do not want that man lecturing me twice in one morning.”

Jaesa stifled a giggle as she headed toward to the cockpit. “I’ll just go do that then.”

“As you command, my lord.” Pierce grumbled before joining Jaesa.

Akrona turned back to Broonmark and Vette. “Broonmark, could you go see if the Captain needs anything?”

Broonmark replied with a guttural purr before leaving, petting the area on his head where Vette had been brushing.

Vette sat back down with her arms crossed and refused to look at the Sith. Akrona moved onto the couch and sat next to the irate twi’lek.

“Vette,” she said softly, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Are you truly so upset that you are willing to ignore your _master_?” Akrona asked in an attempt to jest.

Vette huffed and snapped her head around to face the Sith, grumbling, “It’s not fair! Being a ‘slave’ under you has given the most freedom I’ve had in life! Why should I-?”

Akrona cut her off, “I know. And I know this isn’t what you want. But I’m asking, for me, could you please just go through with it?”

“What the big deal, anyway? You didn’t care.”

“You’re right. I didn’t. Quite frankly, I still don’t. But Quinn cares… a lot.”

“Of course he does.”

“And he _is_ my husband.”

“So? That doesn’t mean you should do everything he wants.”

Akrona chuckled, “No, of course not.” She drew her hands back in and looked at Vette. “But the relationship is not without its compromises. Besides… he did go through an awful lot of trouble to find those voorpak so that I could play with them. It’s only fair. So… please? For me?”

Vette looked at the Sith before her. She was all softness and gentle features with two big, pleading grey eyes. “Ugh. Fine. I hate it when you look at me like that anyway. Come on, let’s get your Sith war-face back on! Is there someone you need to kill?”

The two women laughed lightly and felt the ship slip into hyperspace. “Thank you, Vette. I should probably return to Quinn. See if the man has anything else he wants to complain to me about.”

“Hey, you married him,” Vette mocked. “You knew what he was like!”

Akrona nodded, “That I did…” She got up but paused halfway toward the door. “Could you make sure to check on the engine room during this trip from time to time? I feel the Fury’s been a bit touchy lately.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you later.”

 

 

 

Akrona went back to Quinn’s study to find the man had laid out a few documents, in printed form, as well as a plethora of datapads spread all across the table. Broonmark stood at Quinn’s side holding the datapads and papers that didn’t fit on the table. She contemplated leaving the two to their work, but before she could sneak away, Quinn looked up to see her standing stiffly at the door.

“Ah, my lord. I’m glad you’ve come by. I have a few things I need you to look over and sign.”

“A _few_?” she asked skeptically while making her way next to Quinn, glancing back at the full table. “Printed, hard copy documents, Quinn?”

Quinn ignored her question and pointed out to several of the datapads and began, “Now I’ll need you to sign the forms which indicate that you are Vette’s current owner and that you are allowing her to gain her freedom and-” He looked at Akrona just as her eyes widened in conjunction with her arms wrapping about herself; the slightest tremble shook her frame in her silence.

“That… uh…” She swallowed and began to sway ever so slightly while her gaze was still locked onto the vast plane of datapads and documents. “That’s a lot words, Quinn.”

“Oh.” Realization hit him. “Oh no, my lord. You don’t have to fret. I have already gone through and read everything. All you need to do is sign. I promise.”

Akrona looked back into Quinn’s dark blue eyes, “So… I _don’t_ have to read anything?”

“Correct.” He reassured her, “Unless you would like to ensure there are no mistakes.”

“I trust your judgment, Captain,” she answered quickly. “Do I have to do this now?”

Broonmark grunted and trilled deeply.

Quinn turned to the Talz, “Yes, Broonmark, you can leave. Just make sure you place all of that,” he looked around for an open space and sighed. “Just place them on the floor. But out of the way.”

Broonmark placed his stack neatly next to Quinn’s desk before leaving the couple to their mundane tasks.

“Poor thing,” Akrona remarked. “I should’ve never asked him to help.”

Quinn ignored the comment. “Now may I direct your attention to the matter at hand?”

Akrona looked at him and pursed her lips, “You know Quinn, some married couples do fun activities together. But with you, I get to deal with Imperial bureaucracy and government forms! I don’t think I can contain my excitement, love.”

His arms dropped to his side as he looked his wife dead in the eye. “I know you don’t want to do this. So if you want it to be over, then may I please direct your attention to these.” He pointed out a group of datapads and one hard copy document. “As I’ve said, all you need to do is sign. You will notice that I have marked the appropriate spaces.”

Akrona groaned while Quinn kept on talking about what each form was for and all of the intricacies regarding them. The two would continue as the ship dashed across hyperspace toward Dromund Kaas.

 

 

 

After what seemed to be an eternity of talking, filling out forms, refilling out forms, filing them away to the appropriate desk clerk, and waiting in more lines than Akrona cared to see for the rest of her life, they were finished. Akrona, Quinn, and Vette were able to return to the Fury after a very long and exhausting day at Kaas City.

It was late and Broonmark and Pierce had already gone to bed, leaving Jaesa up for guard duty for the night. She spotted the three wary crew members and decided to greet them before wishing them a good night’s rest.

“How did everything go?” Jaesa asked with a cup of caf in her hand.

Akrona merely stared at her apprentice through a slow blink, shook her head, and continued on her way to her bedroom.

“It was terrible.” Vette lamented. “Akrona was muttering ‘I hate this’ all day and even force choked a desk clerk. But once they found out she was Lord Wrath, things moved a little faster.”

“In hindsight, I should probably have started with that.” Quinn said. He was still standing in a straight posture befitting for the poster child of Imperial military protocols.

Jaesa yawned and took a sip from her caf. “But everything is done now, correct?”

“Yes!” Vette exclaimed. “Thank the stars. I don’t know how much more of that I could take.” She took off her shoes to make her way toward the crew chambers, “I’m going to sleep.”

“Good night, Ve-“ before Jaesa could finish Quinn interrupted.

“One more thing, Vette,” he said, and tossed a datapad to her which she fumbled to catch. “Your new status as a citizen means that everything our lord gave you in terms of ‘spending credits’ has been categorized as an income.”

Vette narrowed her eyes, groaning, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Which means, I’ll need you to fill out your tax forms by tomorrow afternoon.” He nodded to both ladies. “Have a good night, you two,” he said before heading toward the master bedroom as well.

Jaesa couldn’t help but laugh softly while Vette was too dumbstruck to move. “Well, Vette, it appears you’ll be dealing with taxes like everyone else… for the rest of your life.”

Vette dropped the datapad where she stood. “Whatever. I’m not doing this right now.” She turned to leave and mumbled under breath, “Stupid taxes, stupid, stuffy Captain.”


End file.
